Research Your Advertising to Guarantee its Effectiveness

Research your advertising to guarantee its effectiveness - Bonus Tip #11

This is broken into two stages:

1. Test your ads before they appear in any media
2. Research the potential buyers who respond to your advertising, to confirm you are exactly on track

Testing your ads before they appear in any media

Professional advertising agencies will pretest their advertising campaigns before they hit the media to see if their message is right for the target market they are aiming at.

As a professional Realtor who should know how to advertise someone's property effectively, you can (and should) do the same.

In my "Winning Listings" pad I have an advertising checklist which helps ensure you will almost always be 100% on target with your advertising.

You can make up your own checklist if you like, by following these points:

An ad is broken into seven basic elements and they all need to flow together properly:

• Photo -- Match the headline. Remember, not the other way around.
• Headline -- Offer a benefit or implied benefit, news or topical, or curiosity that is relevant, not just a gimmick for gimmick’s sake.
• Qualifying copy -- Quickly confirm the promise in the headline.
• Body copy -- Walk the reader through all aspects of "living there" in that property and area.
• Reinforcing copy -- If an effective headline has attracted the reader, it makes sense to remind them at the end what attracted them initially.
• Action copy -- This is pretty straightforward but not always done properly. Include your full name (with the word "me" in front of it), plus all contact details and open house directions if necessary.
• White space -- An ad needs to "breathe" and should be easy to read, not crammed to capacity as I often see, sometimes with flashes and strips and starbursts, where the eye doesn't know where to look first and read in a logical sequence

Once you have put your advertising campaign together, give it to one or more of your colleagues, with a checklist, so they can objectively tell you if they have totally understood what it is you believe you are trying to impart.

If not, don't try to convince them.You don't have that luxury with somebody out there in the marketplace reading your advertising. This will stop mistakes and wrongly targeted ads before they happen.



Researching potential buyers who respond

This stage can accomplish a lot more for you than just seeing if your advertising is effective. If a potential buyer is viewing a number of homes that are open for inspection on any given weekend, their purpose is not to make a new Realtor "best friend" but only to find a property that suits them.

They are often defensive and now is a perfect time for you to become the Realtor they remember after they have viewed the properties on show. See if the following suggested dialogue works for you.

Greet them upon arrival at open house and exchange names, establishing they have come as a result of your ad, and perhaps asking where they saw it.

"Mr and Mrs Smith/Bob and Sue, I wonder if I could ask for your help/advice/opinion". (People actually love helping, giving advice and sharing opinions -- now you have aroused their curiosity).

"You see, with my advertising, my aim is to give the most honest and truthful depiction of what the property has to offer and what living here in this house and this area will be like.

To confirm I am on the right track with my advertising, after you have had a good look through the property and asked me any questions you may have, it would really help me to know if this property has matched your expectations from the advertising you saw."

This will give you fabulous feedback, to see if your advertising message is on track, or has gone astray.

"Mr and Mrs Smith, thank you for pointing that out as I can now understand how it can be read that way. I appreciate your feedback and will make immediate steps to change that in my future advertising."

What is important now, is to ensure you make the change/s you have promised. If by any chance one of the media you are using already has a closed deadline, then tell them you will be too late for the next ad, but after that it will be changed.

This is really important because if they see your ad again and it hasn't been changed, you're just another Realtor who is not credible. However, if they do see the ad again and it has changed according to their feedback, they will feel good having contributed and will have formed an opinion that they have met a Realtor they can trust.

Be the Realtor who is remembered

Think about it. If a prospective buyer has visited four or five open homes and spoken to four or five different Realtors, who is the one they are going to remember?

Think of those words above. If you were to say "I am honest and truthful, trust me" just like a used car salesman, they wouldn't necessarily believe you.

However, in this instance you have explained to them what your aim is and invited them to be a part of the process. Out of the four or five Realtors they may have seen, they will always remember the one who involved them in putting honest and truthful to the test.

So not only will this process continually help you to ensure your advertising is always on track and highly effective, giving you and your sellers the best results, it will build trust with prospective buyers on an ongoing basis.

Well, that's the end of my top 10 tips--including bonus Tip No. 11. I hope it helps you become more successful in your endeavours.

Remember John McKenna from Pennsylvania who I have mentioned a number of times. From the moment he purchased my HOODOO advertising package, his life changed.

For over 24 months, he has not missed one listing presentation and he is selling properties for higher prices than his competitors in a much shorter time.

I hope you enjoy the same success and if I can help you further, please contact me at amazing@iangrace.com.au or through my website www.iangrace.com

Get your sellers to pay for the advertising!

Get your sellers to pay for the advertising! - Tip #10

In Australia and New Zealand, Realtors do something rather interesting. They ask the sellers to pay the total costs for a professional media mix advertising campaign, often amounting to many thousands of dollars.

Now, before you read further, I would point out that not all realtors in Australia do that; only the best agents have the skills and are able to obtain substantial advertising dollars from the sellers and achieve great results for them. Other agents, many of whom cut their commissions to win listings when times are tough, also pay all the advertising (albeit very small campaigns, as it is coming out of their pocket), which reduces their commission further.

The better agents are not only retaining full commission, but also those substantial amounts of advertising dollars, which enable them to put together very effective advertising campaigns and obtain a better result for their sellers. What do you think that does for their profile? Absolutely through the roof.

That is one of the main reasons why newspapers in these two countries are still such powerful tools for the real estate industry, carrying hundreds of millions of dollars in glorious full-color real estate advertising. As an example, where I now live at the Gold Coast in Queensland Australia, our daily newspaper recently had a Saturday real estate liftout containing over 200 pages.

I have heard many times in the USA and Canada in particular, that “newspaper advertising doesn't work” -- not true! As long as newspapers have readers, then the right message put in front of them will achieve results, particularly when managed as part of a media mix campaign, complementing the other media used, as I have discussed previously.

Research "Down under" shows that the higher the seller paid advertising percentage, the better the campaign, with more sales at higher prices in a shorter time frame. As proven across the Australian and New Zealand markets, sellers will pay, if they believe as a result, they will achieve a better end net result. You're also guaranteed to achieve a much higher listing to selling success rate, retain full commission and also, both ends of the deal or "sides".

Industry support

Some time ago, the real estate Institute of Queensland (REIQ) quoted in the daily newspaper "On the subject of real estate advertising, the REIQ supports the policy of seller paid advertising." This is the industry Association the public listens to and trusts.

1% - 2% of Property Value

In Australia and New Zealand, the aim is for 1% - 2% of the selling price, for the advertising budget. This is merely in line with all other businesses and industries, in terms of what advertising money they spend, as a % of product value or annual turnover. Which means of course, that property is dramatically under promoted compared to everything else, therefore not giving it the exposure it deserves!

As I teach Australian and New Zealand Realtors, if you don't believe you can achieve a better end net result (that's the money in the seller's pocket after all commission and advertising costs have been paid), by using their money for advertising -- DON'T DO IT -- they don't deserve to pay the money and you don't deserve to get it!

Can it be done in marketplaces where the practice doesn't currently exist?

Yes, if a proper professional advertising campaign is presented to the seller as an option (and in a consultative selling situation, they have been part of the information gathering process) and they can see the dramatic difference between that and the usual campaign, they can be influenced to invest in what they see will be potentially a better result for them.

Example - Calgary, Canada

I have also been working in this marketplace over the past 11 years and recently there was a property priced at just under $1 million that had expired, with the sellers desperate to sell. What happens next?

All too often, the price could be dropped many tens of thousands of dollars to sell the property in a desperation situation. However, a local Realtor suggested the seller give him around $2000 to produce a better advertising campaign. The result? A record price for the area, with an overjoyed seller. Was that a good investment for them? You bet!

I mentioned John McKenna from Pennsylvania previously winning a listing that had been on the market for three years and the previous Realtor couldn’t sell the property for $259,000. In desperation, who knows how many thousands of dollars they could have dropped, to sell their property.

However, not only did they not have to drop in price, John achieved an amazing extra $30,000 for them, selling the property quickly at $289,000. Good advertising did that for them and as you could appreciate, they would have been more than happy to invest in advertising that would produce those results.

If you are asking for sellers to contribute advertising $$$’s, how can you compete with Realtors offering to do the advertising for free? We have an interesting situation in Australia, where in the Western Australian marketplace, the practice of sellers contributing towards advertising is very rare.

A long-term Realtor friend of mine, Mark Passmore from Passmore Real Estate, works in that marketplace in Perth the Capital. He's very good at what he does and was previously in the top 2% of Century 21 Realtors worldwide.

He has been using my advertising system for around 10 years now and as he said recently "my last 10 listings, I averaged over $6000 in vendor advertising contribution for each one ." In every instance, he was competing against other agents saying they would do the ads for free, but Mark’s professional advertising approach convinced the sellers they would achieve a better end net result with him, and he can hardly keep up with his repeat and referral business.

With success after success, his job is easy, with hundreds of testimonials to draw upon, that potential listings are invited to contact, to get first hand feedback and proof.

Of course, to make this a reality, you have to become an advertising "expert" and really know what you're doing, demonstrating a systematic professional approach to sellers that gives them the confidence to entrust their hard earned dollars to you their Realtor, with a belief that you will achieve the best possible end net result for them.

Don't get left behind!

Be careful of saying things like "We don't do that here, the sellers would never pay. It wouldn't work in our marketplace. It wouldn't work with our commission structure". Very simply, if an investment of $3000 gave a return of an extra $10,000 or more for example, then it would work in any marketplace with any commission structure.

As I mentioned before, while it should never be a focus, the top agents achieving seller advertising contribution gain huge exposure and their profile in their local area goes through the roof. One selling Principal/Broker in Australia has won awards for achieving around $1 million per year in seller advertising contribution. Imagine what that has done for his and his office’s profile!

For those of you in marketplaces where the practice doesn't currently exist, I ask you to open your minds and consider the possible benefits. Don't get left behind and find that others are doing it. It is already happening in the USA and Canadian marketplaces. We are becoming global and ideas and business practices tend to spread around the world. Look to being a leader not someone left behind, saying "I never thought it would work here", and if you need some input, just contact me, Ian Grace, at amazing@iangrace.com.au

In my next post, I will tell you how to test your ads for effectiveness and also give you some great dialogue for when you are welcoming potential buyers at open houses, to make you "the one" -- the Realtor who will stand out in their minds amongst all those Realtors they may have seen at open houses that day or weekend.

Pricing -- take your sellers for a ride!

Pricing -- take your sellers for a ride! - Tip #9

No, it probably doesn't mean what you are thinking. We're not going to take them on a one-way trip to a deserted place and we are not going to con them. What we are going to conquer once and for all are two things I get really tired of hearing from Realtors.

Firstly, a Realtor who can't sell a property complaining bitterly "Aaah, the property was always overpriced….". That's their excuse for not being able to sell the property as, according to them, it was always the seller's fault who wanted too much money.

Secondly, Realtors complaining they have lost a listing to another Realtor who indulged in the practice of "buying the listing" or telling the seller they would achieve a higher price, often unrealistic, to win the listing, then afterwards gradually "conditioning" or "educating" the seller to keep lowering their price.

Research

Let's have a look first at what research tells us and the three most important pieces of information that potential buyers look for in any real estate advertising.

Price, Location, Number of Bedrooms

If all the research done shows conclusively that these are the top three pieces of information potential buyers require, then common sense says...give it to them! I make mention of that fact because, depending on which country I am working in, I see some or even all of those pieces of information left out of the advertising. How illogical is that?

Price, therefore (number one on the list), is obviously vitally important. However, in countries such as Australia and New Zealand where auction is a very popular and often very effective way of selling homes, many agents using this practice leave price out completely -- not even an indication of price to be seen.

This leads to many disgruntled potential buyers, who probably should never have attended a particular auction in the first place, because they have dramatically misjudged the price of the home. I also have research from one of the Australian Real Estate Institutes showing as high as 58% of potential buyers would not ask the Realtor for any further information, if the price or at least a price indication, wasn't included in the ads.

Consultative selling means teamwork

Consultative selling is the most powerful form of "selling", when, instead of selling at the sellers, the Realtor works as a team with them. So, pricing is obviously vital because if the Realtor and the seller can't agree on pricing before the relationship starts, then they are never working properly as a team. This is when the Realtor needs to have the courage and integrity to walk away from a listing, while offering any assistance the seller should need in the future.

Time after time, I have seen this happen, then the Realtor has still ended up with the listing, as the seller, given time to think about it, was impressed with the honesty and integrity of the Realtor and decided to go with them.

So, how do we get closer to real agreement on a realistic price? By taking the sellers for a ride! Realtors should automatically be showing sellers a CMA or Competitive Market Analysis (different terminology in different countries), showing them exactly what has sold in their area and surrounds, right up until yesterday.

That is the kind of information a seller should be able to expect from their real estate "expert". Obviously, comparisons should be shown with properties that are as close to identical to the property for sale as possible. However, it is still just words on paper, plus maybe a photo or two, but never the same as the real thing.

Firstly, impress upon the seller how important it is to be working together on the same goal/price in mind. Tell them you need to spend a little time with them and take them for a drive. Armed with the CMA and your digital camera, you then visit several homes that are similar to theirs, that have sold in recent times.

Photograph the homes and compare what they have to offer, not just the home itself, but what the surrounding area offers. For example, two homes that would appear to be identical can be priced quite differently, if one is adjacent to a park, where children could play, pets could roam or be taken for a walk and adults could just relax, stroll or perhaps picnic.

That home could quite possibly attract a substantially higher price. With homes near the beach, the difference is quite dramatic -- beachfront homes, then one street back from the beach, then two, then four, then six -- prices will differ quite dramatically even when the physical characteristics of the homes might appear to be the same.

Again, properties that are within walking distance of just about every facility required will attract higher prices every time than properties where the buyers would have to drive everywhere to get to what they need.

Once you return to the seller's home armed with the photographs, your CMA and the actual comparisons of real homes and actual prices achieved, it is normally a much easier exercise to reach agreement on what a realistic price goal should be.

In my experience, sellers are also highly impressed by the integrity of the Realtor and the fact that they took the time and trouble to drive the sellers around to make those comparisons. It sets that Realtor apart, because you can guarantee that 90+ percent of Realtors would never consider doing it.

Also, if another Realtor tries to "buy the listing" by inflating the expected selling price, the seller has now been armed with the correct information in the most honest possible way and as much as they would like to believe an inflated price they are presented with, they realize it's not right and now question the integrity and advice of that Realtor.

So, taking your sellers for a ride has some great advantages and will win you many more listings, as countless Realtors have told me over the years.

Location

Research item number two is also very important. The suburb definitely, then it is up to yourself whether you give them the exact street address. This can now depend on how you have advertised the property. If it's the same old front of the house main photo, then often if they visit the property and are not really impressed with the front of the house when they see it in real life, they can drive away and you have lost them.

As an example, a Realtor in one of my classes was buying a house himself. He had been to see this particular home and thought it was okay, then arranged for his wife to view the property with him and the Realtor who was selling it.

They were in two cars and when they arrived at the property, the wife had one look at the front of the house and said she hated the property and there was no chance she would agree to buy it. She was absolutely adamant initially that she was not even going to get out of the car.

Eventually, the husband managed to get her (very reluctantly) to walk into the house, convincing her to be polite out of respect to the Realtor who had met them there, have a look and then they could tell him it wasn't for them.

However, once the wife walked into the house and particularly, walked onto the expansive back deck/veranda, with a beautiful view over natureland, the wife fell in love with the property and they bought it.

This is a perfect example of when an ad showing the front of the house would never have worked with this lady and how giving them the address in advance, also would never have worked with her. She would have hated it and the Realtor would never have seen her.

Number of bedrooms

This is pretty obvious, but in some areas I see Realtors who leave out the number of bedrooms. Most particularly when it only happens to be one or two bedrooms, as they somehow feel that might put them off, but they will "sell" them on the property when they phone to see how many bedrooms it has.

Sadly, it's not when they phone, it's if they phone and one thing is for certain, if there are two properties advertised side-by-side that appear to satisfy the buyers needs, one property telling the number of bedrooms and the other not, guess which one they will phone first -- obviously, the one telling them how many bedrooms, rather than playing guessing games with the other one.

In my next article, I will give you an insight into the unique process in practice in Australia and New Zealand, where the Realtors obtain advertising dollars from the sellers. That's right, they get the sellers to pay for the advertising campaigns, often many thousands of dollars. But, many of these sellers come back for more and repeat the process with their next home for sale, time and time again. I'll show you why, and also how this practice is appearing in other markets and countries.

Keep the Same Ad Running

Keep the Same Ad Running - Tip # 8


Once you've created a great ad, run it at least four times if not more. As research shows, people need to see the same ad or message three times or more, on average, before they will respond. Now this will particularly apply to real estate publications and printed matter, whether magazines, journals, newsletters, flyers or newspapers, as your Internet ads obviously just keep running.

In some countries, particularly the USA, real estate advertising in newspapers has diminished dramatically -- in countries such as Australia and New Zealand, there is a huge amount of real estate advertising in newspapers like the Gold Coast Bulletin in Queensland, which covers the area where I live, will carry 100-200 pages or more of full-colour real estate advertising every Saturday.

Now, this is mostly because of a local phenomenon where sellers, working with their Realtors, actually pay for the advertising for their properties. I'll touch on that later.

This is where the "four times or more" rule really applies and the newspapers have incentives for the Realtors to run the ads 4 times or more. Newspapers around the world have done that for decades with their classified advertising because of that research showing that people need to see the same ad three or more times on average before they will respond.

Even if newspaper advertising is not a big part, or any part, of your campaign, the same rule will apply to any magazines and journals you're using, as well as your flyers. Put the message in front of your audience 4 times or more to get the best results.

Realtors often change ads quite quickly, only running them once or twice, because they feel they're not getting the result they want. If the ad was a good one, it's like going fishing, throwing out a line and bait, getting a nibble then cutting the line and throwing out a freshly baited hook and starting from scratch.

Others may change an ad because they think it has grown stale and perhaps people out there will be saying "there's the same ad again, obviously they can't sell that property." We must forget about them, even if they were thinking that. It doesn't matter as they are not the right audience and their opinion doesn't matter.

What we must keep in our minds is that the market is changing every day and new buyers are constantly coming into the market. A good campaign will work with them.

I've already emphasized the importance of understanding that you are putting a media mix advertising campaign together, where the ads need to carry the same message, same main photo and headline in all the media. All too often, when the Realtor changes an ad, they only do it in one medium, which means the new ad is not matching the ads in the other media. Therefore nit is not a campaign and they have effectively decreased the chance of a good result.

Different ad campaigns for different markets

We discussed this previously and if your campaigns have been put together properly, these targeted ads will achieve the results you need.

All too often, Realtors are adopting the shotgun approach--trying to aim at everyone. The reality is, we only need one person to sign the contract and having another two or three interested in the property at the same time helps to push the price as high as possible.

We don't need to reach millions of people, only a few of the right ones, effectively.

Repetition across different media

As we have covered previously, effective advertising works accumulatively, with buyers seeing the same ad time and time again, with the same message, across different media.

Delivering my programs across the USA, Canada, UK, Australia and New Zealand over the past 17 years I have seen countless examples where buyers have seen ads for properties 8 times or more, even as high as one example I'm thinking of right now -- 20 times.

That was a Realtor himself, who had driven past a photo signboard for a property (prevalent in Australia in New Zealand -- 6' x 4' signs with full-colour photographs, headline and some wording) at least 20 times and it finally grew on him enough that he ended up buying the property. Job done!

So it goes to show that if you've put together a great campaign, keep it running, consistent across all your media, you will obtain the results your buyers deserve.

However, that doesn't mean to say you are not constantly reviewing the performance of your campaign, the properties competing in the same price range, the weather and any other events that can affect response to your advertising.

In my next article, I will be talking about pricing, which is absolutely vital to get it right, as well as some points that must be included in every ad. Then we will touch on the concept that is so prevalent in Australia, of influencing sellers to contribute towards their advertising campaigns.

I realise in many countries it would mean a paradigm shift in thinking, but once it is done, the results can be quite amazing for all concerned. See you next time.

Use the Power of All Your Media Working Together

Media match: Use the Power of All Your Media Working Together - Tip #7

In my last couple of posts, I promised I would talk about the power of creating an advertising CAMPAIGN, rather than just individual ads in individual media.

Campaigns

All too often, I see Realtors with totally different ads for the same property, in different media. They don't even look like each other. Either that, or they are so ordinary, showing yet another front of a house, with nothing memorable about it for prospects to remember.

In this case, it means that each ad is having to start from scratch with the prospective audience/buyers, rather than having an accumulative effect to get the best results.

Once you understand how CAMPAIGN advertising taps into your prospects’ conscious and subconscious minds, to give your properties "top of mind awareness", you will see how obvious and simple it is -- and how amazingly powerful!

(Remember John McKenna, the Pennsylvania Realtor who hasn't missed one listing in over two years now because of utilising this process -- NOW THAT'S POWERFUL!!)

Reach, frequency and OTS?

Advertising experts talk about "reach and frequency" aimed at as many "OTS" as possible, for the best possible outcome. Realtors mostly just talk about "writing their ad", mostly in a rush if an advertising deadline is due, or alternatively in some kind of mad rush, just to get the property on the Internet.

In other words, they would rather have a rushed, bad ad there quickly, than devote the time necessary to put together a powerful advertising campaign. If that was done, then they would harvest the synergistic effect of getting all the media employed, to work with and complement each other, rather than having them working in isolation.

Reach?

With any advertising campaign, the Media Planner in an advertising agency, in this case, the Realtor, selects their media by establishing how many potential prospects the particular media they are using will reach.

The more specific the media, the better. For example, an advertising agency looking to reach and influence doctors, might advertise in the Medical Journal, knowing that this medium will reach the specific audience they are after.

For real estate, while the internet is available to all, in some circumstances there are luxury property internet sites, designed to attract those who have the buying power for those types of property.

Certain magazines are designed to reach only affluent readers or areas, therefore, they are a good media choice for a high priced property. Realtors are actually very fortunate because there have always been specific real estate categories in newspapers or magazines, or standalone media, unlike those available to most other products or services.

Frequency and OTS?

A media planner will now gauge how many times (i.e. the frequency), the prospective buyer can see the same ad, the same message. A good campaign will reach as many of the right kind of prospects as many times as possible to give them the most OTS, which in advertising parlance, simply means "Opportunities To See".

Why is this important? Research over the years, shows us that people need to see the same ad, the same message, at least three times or more on average before they will react to it. That's why a carefully planned campaign will give prospects the opportunity to see the same ad, and react to the same message as many times as possible, even 10 times or more, to catch those at the top end of the average.

Media Mix Advertising Campaign

That just means a mix of different media working with each other to give them as many opportunities as possible to see a memorable positive message that will remain in their minds.
When that message is identical across different media, each time the buyer sees it, the brain remembers and immediately ties them together, giving a powerful accumulative effect to the advertising.

For instance, imagine you are sitting at home watching television and on comes a TV ad about an SUV. Now, if you can see the driver, you can pretty well guarantee it won't be an 80 year old. It's pretty straightforward; if the car manufacturer and their advertising agency had determined that their prime market is in the 38 year age group (that's the who part of HOODOO), then they will go to the model agency and book a 38-year-old model and put them behind the wheel of the vehicle to drive on the beach, or rough terrain, enjoying themselves (that's the do part of HOODOO).

Then, the ad will be repeated time and time again -- there's your frequency.

Now, the next day when you are out driving your car, on comes a radio commercial, which is the audio part of the TV commercial you've seen the night before. What will your brain do immediately? It will do an instant match and will immediately recall the TV ad from the night before, showing the 38 year old model driving and enjoying the vehicle.

Then once again, the ad will be repeated time and time again -- more frequency.

Next, you pick up a newspaper, magazine or perhaps flyer or direct mail -- guess what the main photograph will be? Yes, the main visual from the TV commercial which is already filed in the prospect’s brain. The minute you see the ad, your brain will bring up the TV commercial you have already seen. See how the media work together?

Can you identify with this example I’ve just related? I'm sure you can, as we see these media mix campaigns every day of our lives, selling us every imaginable product and service, whether it be cars, carpets or cornflakes.

Now think about this. If the ad in the newspaper or magazine, instead of showing the visual from the TV special night before, showed the same vehicle with a front on shot, displaying the engine. Would that have worked? I'm sure your answer will be no. It just doesn't make sense because there is no match for the brain to recognize.

Some might argue that the ad and photograph is still aimed at selling the same vehicle; however, it may now be talking to a different audience that is more technically minded and interested in specifications. Sadly, this means that all the money invested in the TV commercial and radio commercial has now gone straight down the drain because there is no match, no recall. Does that make sense?

Realtors have the greatest opportunity to create the biggest media mix campaigns of all.

Most professional campaigns selling us products or services on a day-to-day basis, will normally have a mix of around 3 to 4 media maximum. But, how many media options do Realtors have at their disposal? Depending on which state or country you are in, let's have a look at a potential list:

• As many as 4 different Internet sites
• 1 X database e-mail
• 1 X Flyer
• 1 X newspaper ad
• 1 X real estate magazine
• 1 X window display
• 1 X photo signboard
• plus, maybe TV and/or radio
• social media
• the list goes on - how many is that? 10, 12, 15 or more!!

Imagine the power if you can harness all of those media to work with and complement each other, giving a huge amount of OTS with your campaign -- with a memorable message that shows a clear picture of what living there, in that property, will do for them. Every time the prospective buyer sees the message again, it will be matched with what is already in their brain, they will become more familiar with it and it immediately gives them "top of mind awareness" of the property you are advertising.

So, now you can harness the power of a media mix advertising campaign, with every property you list from now on (AND WIN EVERY LISTING) when sellers see you as the advertising expert in their area.

In my next post, we will cover tips 8 and 9 and talk about how often the same ad should run and also looking again at specific content. See you then!

Use different ads for different target markets

Use Different Ads for Different Target Markets - Tip # 6

In my last couple of posts, I promised I would talk about the power of creating an advertising CAMPAIGN, rather than just individual ads in individual media. However, before I do that, there is another powerful tool I want to cover first -- using different ad campaigns for different target markets.

Don't forget, the whole HOODOO concept is about carefully targeting your market -- those prospects who will see the most value in the property for them, based on their particular value structure at that time in their life -- and who will therefore be prepared to pay the highest price.

TARGET YOUR MARKET

Talk to them only!

This is vitally important. This is what professional advertising agencies do with every product or service they sell on behalf of their clients. Every product we see advertised is aimed at a specific market. It may be aimed at men, women, seniors, children, affluent people, mass market, brand label conscious people, and the list goes on.

I talked before about your ads becoming a personal communication, which can be read by your prospective buyers, as if you are talking directly to them -- that is targetted marketing.

However, ads I see all the time saying things like "ideal for first home buyer or investor" are not targetted marketing and once you mix two very different markets into the same ad, you cannot communicate directly with either one of them. It's like trying to have a conversation with an 80-year-old and a five-year-old in the same sentence -- it can't be done.

Now, before we look at communicating with each of those markets separately, let's have a look at the "checklist" that will help you to choose the best possible target market for each property you list -- in some cases, as above, two totally different relevant markets.

Selecting your target market

The advertising experts will normally split this into three distinct areas, using one, two or sometimes all three, to ensure they are right on target. See how easy it makes it for you:

GEOGRAPHIC
Where is the purchaser of this property likely to come from? ie. local area; particular suburbs; beyond greater city area; another city, state or country.

DEMOGRAPHIC
Age, sex, income, singles, couples, families; occupation / profession / investors, etc.

PSYCHOGRAPHIC
Expectations and aspirations: hobbies, habits, preferences, likes and dislikes. eg. People who love entertaining, gardening, golfing, relaxing, peace, activity, etc.

By focusing on each of these 3 areas, it becomes so much easier to determine who your ad campaign should be directed at to generate the greatest (qualified) response.

(Important note: always be aware of any anti-discrimination laws in your particular state and make sure you don't transgress them. Targetted marketing is about offering the property to the best possible prospects, who will have their needs satisfied the best, not about discriminating, but please apply common sense and be aware of your local laws).

Different ads for different target markets

Now, if you look at the concept of running two totally different campaigns, aimed at two totally different markets in all the media you're using, it makes absolute sense.

In each case, the ads will evoke a better response, as they read so much more personally and therefore more powerfully. Added to that is the fact that you will be reaching two different markets at the same time, giving more chance of competition between prospective buyers from both markets.

You remember the headline I used in the successful campaign that sold our investment property?

Watch the waves ...... and the $$$’s roll in!

If we had been aiming to sell the property to someone who would live in it, the headline could have been something like:

Watch the waves .....every day.
Or
Your view ...... every morning!
Or
Your view, your lifestyle ... every day!

As you can see, there is no discrimination here and the laws of common sense dictate that someone reading the first headline, who was looking for a place to live in, can say to themselves, when they see that headline and the photo "I'd love to live there and watch the waves every day -- let's go and have a look".

Also, an investor reading either of the two headlines above could assume that property would be a good investment with a high rental return (possibly with an ulterior motive of living in the property in years to come).

Another example of a property where first home buyers or investors are equally feasible markets -- some headlines could be as simple as:-

Could this be your first home?
Or
Secure your future with this great investment.

The reality is that most Realtors never think about the idea of running two different campaigns for the same property, so the minute you do it for any of your properties, your ad campaigns will be different. They will stand out and they will achieve way more results.

Campaigns

All too often, I see Realtors with totally different ads in different media. They don't even look like each other. In this case, it means that each ad is having to start from scratch with the readers rather than having an accumulative effect to get the best results.

More about this in my next post, when I will finally share with you, the advertising experts secrets about "reach and frequency" aimed at as many "OTS" as possible, for the best possible outcome. After that, explaining the synergistic effect of getting all your media to work with and complement each other, rather than viewing them in isolation.

Once you understand how CAMPAIGN advertising taps into your prospects’ conscious and subconscious minds, to give your properties "top of mind awareness", you will see how obvious and simple it is, and how amazingly powerful!

Put people in your photos

Put people in your photos - Tip #4

As we established in my last post, photos and headlines should work together, always keeping HOODOO in mind. Choosing a photo that is not the front of the house, as the main photograph in your ad, is a paradigm shift for most Realtors, as the industry has been doing the same old thing for so long.

However, once we make that bold step, then we can take photographs that will complement and work with the headlines and the results can be quite amazing -- very often, just like clicking on a light switch, from bad, dull, boring ads to great ads that instantly produce fabulous results for your sellers.

Living there -- as we said previously, that is what property ads should be selling and what better way to show potential buyers what it would be like to live there once they purchase the home, than by putting people in the photos, enjoying themselves?

So now we take the next bold step, by putting people and/or pets in your photos. It's a great way to show people what they will be able to DO when they live there.

Remember our personal home we sold?

See how easy it is for the prospective buyer to project themselves into that picture, visualising themselves relaxing after a hard day, once they are living there?

When the buyer (who lived a 2 hour plane flight away) phoned me on the 4th day of our advertising campaign, he only had two questions for me -- "do you get any noise from the highway" (which he saw from Google Earth, was about 1 km away) and "is that you and your wife in the spa?" It was!

As you can see, I practice what I preach.

Another example of the main photo not being the front of the property and showing people, is when we worked with a local Realtor to sell an investment property of ours.

Watch the waves... and the $$$’s roll in!

Once again, see how the photo complements the headline and specifically targets the investor market? We wanted an investor to buy it as a going concern, including all furniture and that was exactly who we attracted, achieving $6000 more than the price in the ad after the campaign had only been running for six days.

Remember John McKenna, the Pennsylvania Realtor who hasn't missed a listing for over 22 months since he began putting this advertising system into place?

Well, to demonstrate how a great ad campaign can make an immediate dramatic difference in results -- John picked up the listing for a property that had been on the market almost 3 years. The previous Realtor couldn't sell the home for $259,000. With a very different ad campaign, John had the property sold in just a few weeks, for a staggering $289,000 -- yes, that's right, $30,000 more than the previous Realtor couldn't sell it for -- how is that for results?!

The headline:

Ron and Janet recall the many family barbecues and
get-togethers enjoyed on this patio

The photo:

I'm sure you've guessed it -- a photo of a smiling Ron and Janet on their patio, next to the barbecue. Imagine how that ad stood out amongst all the other usual boring real estate ads showing nothing but fronts of houses -- and the same with the other two ads shown above. They give life to the properties for sale and the prospective buyers can match it to the picture they already have in their own minds, of what it will be like to live in their new home.

Testimonial

Obviously, John uses this example as a very powerful testimonial, showing that photo and headline. Other sellers love the very different advertising approach, look forward to achieving similar results and happily list with him.

Use people's names in your ads - Tip # 5

The ad above brings up another powerful element you can use in your ads to "humanize" and personalize the ads and the properties for sale -- people's names. When you use the sellers’ first or last names (with their permission, of course), it immediately creates a picture, that real people actually live in and love in the property -- and isn't that what buying a home, then living in it, is all about?

The O'Neales are moving

-- was the headline from another successful ad campaign, with the main photo showing the O'Neales with their suitcases packed, then leading into the story about how much they have enjoyed living in the home, the neighbourhood and the surrounding area and everything it had to offer. The inference being of course that the buyer of the home can look forward to the same enjoyment.

Another property that had been on the market for five months, was sold in two weeks with a new advertising campaign -- the headline:-

Tony and Gai will miss the garden

-- with the photo (yes, you guessed it) showing them sitting relaxed in their garden, with the wording talking about how much they have enjoyed it. The potential buyer can visualize themselves relaxing there in exactly the same way, once they have purchased the property and are living there.

Your name - when you use your name in the ad, make sure it is in full and put one powerful little word ahead of it -- that word is "me" e.g. Phone me, John Smith at........

The minute you do that it changes the communication. "Phone John Smith at..." is a direction, not an invitation. "Phone me, John Smith at...." is an invitation that says "I have viewed the property, I have written the ad, I am talking directly to you and I am inviting you to phone me.

Following the HOODOO concept, you probably realize by now that powerful advertising is a direct personal communication and the readers feel as if you're talking directly to them, when they read the ad.

Most real estate advertising is impersonal, merely talking about the thing for sale -- in this case, the property. Powerful advertising first establishes WHO is the best possible prospect, who will see the most value in the property for them and therefore pay the highest price. Powerful advertising then talks directly to that audience, showing them and telling them what they will be able to DO as a direct result of their purchase -- living there!

I don't wish to make this post too long, so don't miss my next post, where we will talk about something that is vitally important -- putting a media mix advertising CAMPAIGN together and understanding the synergistic effect of getting all your media to work with and complement each other, rather than viewing them in isolation - powerful stuff!